Ideas for securing guns in an apartment

[One of Many]

If you own the Bed you sleep in, it can be modified in a manner that conceals the firearms from casual examination. Most beds have a Box Spring and a separate Mattress laying on top of the spring. Build a wooden box the same size as the Box Spring of your bed. Make it very sturdy, and put a door on one side that can be padlocked in several spots. Replace the Box Spring with the security box, put your guns inside, lock with several different padlocks, and MAKE THE BED.

If a crook does enter your appartment, it is unlikely they will move the covers and bedspread (they may look under the bed), so your hiding spot should go undetected. Even if it is detected, they will have to get past several locks, or make so much noise busting up the security box that someone will call the police.

This will allow you to secure rifles, shotguns, handguns, and ammunition out of sight of any visitors. Only the most trusted friends will ever know your secret gun stash is under your mattress. It may even improve the quality of your sleep.

 

[MikeIsaj]

Sentry safes are great for handguns. If your floors are carpeted you can bolt any safe to the floor and hide the holes. Make a small x-cut in the carpet then lift it aside and drill your holes. Use the blades for a carpet cutting tool, they are very sharp and will make a clean slice essential to hiding the cut. If/when you move, unbolt and the holes will be undetectable unless someone goes to that spot and tries to find them.

I like the idea of cable and cinderblocks for rifles.

Some general advice from burglers I have dealt with; When hiding something, think of three places, then think of a fourth and hide it there. Also, the harder you make it the less likely they will take it. Burglers work on a clock. They don't want to be in your house too long.

 

[KnightHawk67]

I am about to buy a safe and bolt it to the floor in my closet. How do you best go about drilling/bolting into concrete?

 

[Silver Bullet]

Have you ever looked in that drawer under the oven? I'll bet no burgler ever has.

Ummm, when my oven is cooking, the top gets pretty hot. That heat might be radiating downwards as well.

I think I would run a couple tests before I put any firearms under it, especially if they're loaded .

Bake something at 500 degrees for a half hour and put a thermometer in the under-oven drawer to see how hot it gets.

Bake something at 500 degrees for a half hour and put a single cartridge in the under-oven drawer to see if anything “interesting” happens.

Probably safe, but at a minimum I would try and ensure the firearm was unloaded.

 

[Blue Jays]

Hi All-

Forget that "under the oven" idea. You'll forget your firearm is there when preheating the oven to 500* Fahrenheit to make your famous Apple Crumb Crisp. Your grips could become a gooey pile of plastic and it couldn't help the temper of the firearm, either.

~ Blue Jays ~

 

[MikeIsaj]

How do you best go about drilling/bolting into concrete?

You should use a hammer drill and a masonry bit. If you don't use a hammer drill, plan on using about six bits.

Tapcon fasteners will thread right into the concrete but I'm not sure if they would be strong enough to resist prying. I would use lead anchors and bolts. The lead ancors expand in the concrete hole and hold on tight. Home Depot or Lowes has them both

 

[Blue Jays]

Hi All-

Tapcons are pretty dang strong, especially if used in the tight confines of a small safe at the back of an apartment closet. Use a hammer drill to create a decent pilot hole and then use a sufficiently long fastener. Anchors would be slightly stronger, but not as easy to accomplish.

No muss and no fuss using the blue Tapcons.

~ Blue Jays ~

 

[Gifted]

You should use a hammer drill and a masonry bit. If you don't use a hammer drill, plan on using about six bits.

I drilled holes in concrete once using a plain masonry bit designed for a regular drill. Had no problem with it.

 

[ralphie98]

If you have the right type of air vents, you could take the cover off, tuck them in there. Might not be the best idea in the winter if you need the heat, but its enough of a P.I.T.A. to take that cover off that a burgular wouldn't bother. That's the best hiding spot I have come up with.

 

[iiibdsiil]

You could attach it to your matress up by your head, but on the part that goes up and down, then just put your mattress sheet over it and I don't think anyone would find it. Maybe something to hang it from the top of a cabinet, underneath? The AC vent is a good idea.

 

[Silver Bullet]

If you have a rottweiler, you could bury it beneath the dog house.

 

[38Mike]

Apartment security.......Stack On cabinet bolted to wall, covered with a piece of cloth ( top and front ) with a small table pushed in front. Both effectively camoflaged with piles of Max Brand, Louis L'Amour, and Zane Gray..........

 

[Silver Bullet]

Duh ... cancel my last post; I forgot we were talking about apartment living.

 

[odysseus]

it is unlikely they will move the covers and bedspread

FYI - it is not uncommon for thieves to quickly toss a mattress and bedding around since they know very often people stack valuables like money and guns in and around them. It's too common a tactic, I would normally advise against it.

 

[PCGS65]

I know this one will cause some inconvience but if you have a linen closet or regular closet with a standard door knob you can simply go to the hardware store and buy a door handle that locks. They're about $10. Just save the other door handle to put back when you move. It's much harder to pull a locked door open than kick one in. This way you will not have to drill holes in anything to bolt a safe down. The best part is you don't have to tell the landlord because you are not making any structural changes. I did this in my home. It's a lot cheaper than a safe or a gun cabinet. You can still use the closet for whatever, just have to lock/unlock it when needed. Be sure to make a few(3-4) keys. If you lose the two keys that come with the lock and have to pry the door open it will cost you big if you can't fix the door yourself.

 

[rayra]

MasterPiece Arms.com
Member

Since the home I grew up in cost $20,000 in 1970, and today it's worth $150,000, I expect to be an apartment dweller/landlord slave for life. Bush's 11%+ inflation rate combined with totally stagnating wages, combined with hordes of mexicans around here who are competing for apartments and thus keeping rent extremely high (saving 4 a home while renting used to be possible), only sets that in stone.

I have over 100 firearms in my apartment. My pistols are mostly in 4 of those two shelf Wal Mart pistol cabinets (49.95) that I have bolted together into a heavy and loaded tower taller than I am. The $78.99 long gun safes, as was mentioned earlier, are very heavy when loaded (especially if you line the floor of it with ammo). I've even bolted pistol cabinets to the top of two long gun cabinets (the ones wal mart sells come pre drilled, my "Homak" ones didn't").

As you have probably noticed, I have come to love Wal Mart. It's the cheapest place to get affordable gun cabinets, an 870, a 10/22, and bulk .22 lr (550 rds of Remington .22, which is the only cheap .22 ammo I've found that will always cycle in .22 pistols, for under 10 bucks is hard to beat).

A. You have a cite / source for that 11% Inflation rate?
According to http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Inflation_Rate/CurrentInflation.asp and even including the huge jump in gas prices, it's only 3.17%
2. Anyone else noting someone with a 100 guns crying about raising $15,000 down payment?

Unless your firearms are unique or deeply sentimental, you should liquidate and get into a home, instead of bleeding cash on RENT.

 

[rayra]

MasterPiece Arms.com
Member



Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 55 Quote:
Source for the 11% inflation rate?




Quote:
Inflation is at about 2.75% right now.

SURE, if you only count items that are cherrypicked to make the numbers look good.
Take a gander at things that CANNOT be insulated from inflation to make an honest calculation (the numbers from the U.S. government are manipulated to the point of being full blown lies):

1. Gasoline
2. Gold
3. Land
4. Health Care

Items made in China with pseudo slave labor are immune to the ACTUAL inflation rate. Several of you have been royally had by the bogus numbers coming out of the administration.

ok, nevermind. The numbers based ont eh Consumer Price Index - which include the very things you talk about - are all "bush lies".
No point in discussing it with you at all, you're a loony.